I'm more than what that mean scale says
More than the brands I choose to wear
Or the Tuesday when I failed to wash my face
And pulled my first white hair.
I’m more than what Natasha said
When she pointed to my sixth grade thighs
And casually observed their thickness, which
I’d spend a lifetime trying to hide.
I’m more than the follows, the likes, the hearts
I’m more than my marital status
I don’t have kids yet, please stop asking like
I’m some baby-making apparatus.
I wish they let me make business cards
So I could disencumber
Myself from the boring titles and emails
The cellphone and office numbers.
Instead, know me through my ocean-crossing parents
My sisters who could have been models
The little ones who aren’t really mine, but
I was there when they first waddled.
Ask me about my brilliant friends
How I'm better for having met them
Or the percolating thoughts between these two ears
In spite of everyone trying to suppress them.
I’ll take you to all my favorite foods
The stories that make me strong
The books in which I’d rather disappear
Than in that box you think I belong.
Rise above the fears and long-held hurts
Those thieves of present joy
The future awaits with a promising grin,
It says, “Wait ’til you see more.”